
WASHINGTON 

OLD AND NEW 

BY BARRY BULKLEY 





TheNewEbbitt 



ARMY & NAVY. 

Washington, D. C. 

G F.SCHUTT. PROPRIETOR. 



site "" 




WASHINGTON 
OLD AND NEW 

By BARRY BULKLEY 

ii 

A UTHOR of "The First Continental Congress," "The City 
* * of Washington," "The Yellowstone National Park," 
"The Panama Canal," "Portland, the City of Roses," "The 
United States Navy" and other manuscripts and lectures. 
"District Day" Lecturer at Pan-American Exposition, Lecturer 
by invitation of the Board of Education of New York City, 
and by request of the United States Government at the 
Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Expositions. 

WRITTEN AT REQUEST OF GEO. F. SCHUTT 



ft ft ft 



WASHINGTON, D. C, 
19 13 



VJTlpAAy 






COPYRIGHTED 1913 

BY 

BARRY BULKLEY 



By ir ansfer 

'Jbrary 

APR 1 8 1940 



PRESS OF W. F ROBERTS CO 
WASHINGTON. D C. 








'R. GEORGE F. SCHUTT, proprietor of The New 
Ebbitt and National Hotel, recognizing the demand 
from tourist and student guests for fuller information 
about Washington than can be had from the ordinary guide 
books, conceived the idea of compiling a booklet to meet such 
inquiries. Having assembled much data of old Washington, 
particularly concerning facts and personages from time to time 
identified with his hotels, he has been prevented, because of the 
many demands upon his time, from personally putting his ideas 
into effect. He, therefore, employed the services of the writer 
to perform the task for him. 

This little book aims to give the reader, in concise form, an 
account of the events leading up to the selection of the site of the 
National Capital and to briefly trace its growth from ante-bellum 
days and the period immediately succeeding the Civil War to the 
present day. 

Grateful acknowledgment for helpful suggestion is made to 
the Hon. Robert Wickliffe Woolley, Auditor of the U. S. 
Treasury for the Interior Department; Chas. Clinton Swisher, 
Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of History, The George Washington 
University; and to Mrs. Mary Stevens Beall, Secretary of the 
Columbia Historical Society. 

B. B. 



• 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 




CHAPTER 



ft 



THE SELECTION OF A PERMANENT CAPITAL 



SSrjlASHINGTON ls the s P lendi(1 reslllt of the firsl 
I m sordid political deal ever made in the Congress of 

EA^I the United States. It is the brilliant realization 
of the dream of a civic idealist, L'Enfant. It is the nation's 
pledge to the future of the perfect municipality. While 
named for our first President, Thomas Jefferson is respon- 
sible for its location on the banks of the Potomac. He saw 
a chance to drive for the South a bargain with Alexander 
Hamilton, in whose personal integrity he had the utmost 
confidence, but whose politics he despised and whose schemes 
for the welfare of the infant republic he mistrusted, and he 
drove it with a shrewdness and coolness which would do 
credit to a business statesman of today. 

The selection of a permanent capital was squarely up to 
the First Congress, following the adoption of a Federal 
Constitution. Fully a dozen cities had good claims. Each 



W A S II I N GT N O L D AND NEW 

of several of these had actually been the seat of government 
for brief periods during the disorderly and unsatisfactory 
existence of the Continental Congress. One day citizens of 
a town would glory in their good fortune; the next they 
would awake to find that hungry soldiers of the Revolution, 
demanding pay for services rendered, had caused the Con- 
vention to decide to move on with haste. Baltimore, Lan- 
caster, York, Princeton, Trenton and Annapolis had all 
been temporary refuges following the enforced abandon- 
ment of Philadelphia in June, 1783, and each had substan- 
tial claims on the people. Precedent and the imagination, 
however, counted heavily in favor of the Quaker City or 
New York. The one was nearest to the then center of 
population and was really the cradle of American liberty; 
the other had already become the leading seaport of the 
country, and had the largest number of people. 

In October, 1783, Elbridge Gerry offered a resolution to 
erect buildings for the use of the Continental Congress on 
the banks of the Potomac or of the Delaware. Six 
months later it was so amended as to provide for such 
building on both rivers; but the resolution was repealed 
altogether on April 26, 1784. In October, 1784, two Com- 
mittees of Congress were appointed, under a resolution to 
select a place for the permanent capital either in New Jersey 
or in Maryland. The Maryland Committee was instructed 
to "examine and report on a location at or near the lower 
falls of the Potomac." But nothing came of its findings. 
The question continued to be uppermost in the minds of the 
lawmakers and the people down to the day of settlement in 
1790. It was generally agreed that it would not be wise 
to locate the seat of the Federal Government in any State 
capital. 



WASHINGTO N OLD AND NEW 

George Mason and James Madison were chiefly respon- 
sible for the action taken by the Constitutional Convention 
in 1787. Mason was for providing definitely against the 
selection of a State capital; Mr. Madison held that a central 
residence for the government was necessary. On the latters 
motion, the Congress' powers under the constitution were 
added to as follows : 

"To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatso- 
ever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as 
may by cession of the particular States and the acceptance 
of Congress become the seat of government of the United 
States. Art. 1, Sec. 7." 

With the ushering in of the first Congress under the con- 
stitution the Capital question became fraught with danger. 
The New England and Eastern States demanded first Ger- 
mantown, Pennsylvania. But the representatives from the 
Southern States stood fast for the Potomac. When the 
question came to a vote September 3, 1789, the New Eng- 
land members charged that the country along the latter was 
an unhealthy wilderness; Mr. Madison replied that the banks 
of the Susquehanna were even more unhealthy. 

"The gentleman from Virginia seems to think the banks 
of the Potomac a paradise and that river a Euphrates," re- 
torted the brilliant Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts. 

A Georgia member went so far as to predict that if the 
North insisted on the Susquehanna site it would "blow the 
coals of sedition and endanger the Union." 

Mr. Wadsworth, of Connecticut, said, "he did not dare 
to go to the Potomac; he feared the whole of New England 
would consider the Union destroyed." 

Richard Bland Lee, of Virginia, said : "If it should be 
found that confederacies of States east of Pennsylvania 



IV A S II f N G T N OLD AND N E U r 

were formed, to unite their councils for their particular 
interests, disregarding the Southern States, they would be 
alarmed and the faith of all south of the Potomac would be 
shaken. Virginia had not solicited Congress to place the 
seat of Government in her State, only contending that the 
interests of the Southern and 'Western country should be 
consulted; that their interests would be sacrificed if Con- 
gress fixed on any place but the Potomac." 

Mr. Madison affirmed that "if the declarations and pro- 
ceedings of this day had been brought into view in the Con- 
vention of Virginia, which adopted the Federal Constitution, 
he firmly believed Virginia would not have been a part of 
the Union at this moment." 

As a result, the House adopted a resolution authorizing 
the President to appoint three Commissioners to select a 
site on the Susquehanna, in Pennsylvania. Later on the 
Senate, by a tie vote, which was broken by Vice-President 
Adams voting in the affirmative, decided on a district ten 
miles square at Germantown, Pennsylvania; whereupon the 
1 louse passed the Senate Bill, with an amendment providing 
that the laws of Pennsylvania should continue in force in 
the Federal District. Only one day of the Senate remained, 
and the Bill finally died for want of action. The South's 
opportunity, seized upon by Jefferson, came with the defeat 
in the House in Committee of the Whole, April 12, 1790, 
of the Bill, drawn by Alexander Hamilton, for funding the 
Federal debt and assuming the debts incurred by the thir- 
teen States during the Revolutionary War. Those States 
whose debts were not embarrassing — Virginia was chief 
among these — maintained that it would be an invasion of 
State prerogatives for the General Government to levy taxes 
to pay debts contracted separately, by the respective States; 

8 




THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



W AS HI N GT O X OLD AND N E IV 

furthermore, that it would be grossly unfair to them should 
they be obliged to share the burdens of States whose debts 
were considerable. 

Alexander Hamilton contended that the credit of the new 
nation was at stake and he threw all of his splendid ability 
into the fight for the passage of what had come to be popu- 
larly known as the "Assumption Bill." Moreover, he fore- 
saw that upon its enactment the federal bonds would be 
tightened and the importance of individual States corre- 
spondingly minimized. In a paper read before the Ameri- 
can Historical Association in 1895, Gaillard Hunt states the 
issue as follows: "Upon the former (Assumption Bill) de- 
pended the financial standing of the new nation in the eyes 
of the world, while the latter (location of a permanent capi- 
tal ) was a measure of purely domestic concern. The two, 
however, had no connection with one another, yet, by a 
system since come to be known as 'logrolling,' they became 
involved. 

"The Eastern members of Congress desired the passage of 
the 'Assumption Bill,' but had no hope, for geographical 
reasons, of obtaining the capital. The members from the 
Middle States, on the other hand, were determined, if pos- 
sible, that the seat of the Federal Government should be 
permanently located at Philadelphia or in that neighbor- 
hood. * * * But Virginia and Washington conceived 
that they also had claims to the Capital, and their respective 
legislatures had already taken steps to procure it. 

"On December 27, 1788, before Congress had come to- 
gether, the General Assembly of Virginia passed resolutions 
offering ten miles square of any portion of the State for the 
new Federal City — which the Constitution provided for, 
and (Alexander) White laid these resolutions before the 

10 



WAS II I N GT O N OLD A N D N E W 

National House of Representatives May 15, 1789. On the 
following day, Seney, of Maryland, offered a similar act 
from the legislature of his State. Maryland and Virginia 
were not, however, in hostile rivalry in their efforts to ob- 
tain the Federal District. They contemplated its location 
on the banks of the Potomac, and they calculated upon 
jointly profiting in consequence." 

On December 10, 1789, the General Assembly of Vir- 
ginia informed the General Assembly of Maryland that it 
would advance $120,000 toward the erection of public 
buildings in the new Federal City — if it should be located 
on the Potomac, provided Maryland would advance three- 
fifths of that sum, and at the November session, the Mary- 
land Assembly appropriated $72,000 for the purpose. L 

Mr. Jefferson was well aware that Mr. Hamilton's as- 
sumption scheme was bound to triumph eventually; by 
agreeing to use his influence to hasten its passage he could 
combine the Puritans and the Cavaliers and snatch the Capi- 
tal from the Quakers. So he gave a dinner which he de- 
scribes in his Anas as follows : 

"As I was going to the President's one day, I met him 
(Hamilton) in the street. He walked me backward and 
forward before the President's door for half an hour. 
He painted pathetically the temper into which the Leg- 
islature had been wrought, the disgust of those who 
were called the creditor States, the danger of the seces- 
sion of their members, and the separation of the States. 
He observed that the members of the administration 
ought to act in concert; that though this question was 
not in my department, yet a common duty should make 
it a common concern ; that the President was the center 
on which all the administrative questions ultimately 

11 



W A SHI N GT X L D A N D N E W 

rested, and all of us should rail)- around him; and that, 
the question having been lost by a small majority only, 
it was probable that an appeal from me to the judgment 
and discretion of some of my friends might effect a 
change in the vote and the machine of government, now 
suspended, might be again set in motion. I told him 
that I was really a stranger to the whole subject ; not 
having yet informed myself of the systems of finance 
adopted ; 1 knew not how far this was a necessary se- 
quence ; that individually, if its rejection endangered a 
dissolution of our Union at this incipient state, I should 
deem that the most unfortunate of all consequences, to 
avert which all partial and temporary evils should be 
yielded. I proposed to him, however, to dine with me 
the next day, and I would invite another friend or two; 
bring them into the conference together and 1 thought 
it impossible that reasonable men, consulting together 
coolly, could fail with some mutual sacrifices of opinion to 
form a compromise which was to save the Union. 

"The discussion took place. I could take no part in 
it but an exhortatory one, because I was a stranger to 
the circumstances which should govern it. But it was 
finally agreed that, whatever importance had been at- 
tached to the rejection of the proposition, the preserva- 
tion of the Union and of Concord among the States was 
more important and that, therefore, it would be better 
that the vote of rejection be rescinded, to effect which 
some members should change their votes. But it was 
observed that this bill would be peculiarly bitter to the 
Southern States and that some concomitant measure should 
be adopted to sweeten it a little to them. There had be- 
fore been propositions to fix the seat of government 
either at Philadelphia or at Georgetown on the Poto- 

12 




ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 



W A S H I N GT O N OLD A X D N E W 

mac, and it was thought by giving- it to Philadelphia 
for ten years, and to Georgetown permanently after- 
wards, this might, as an anodyne, calm in some degree 
the ferment which might be excited by the other measure 
also. So two of the Potomac members (White and 
Lee, but White with a revulsion of stomach almost con- 
vulsive) agreed to change their votes, and Hamilton 
undertook to carry the other point. In doing this, the 
influence he had established over the Eastern members, 
with the agency of Robert Morris, with those of the 
Middle States, effected his side of the engagement, and 
so the assumption was passed, and twenty millions of 
stock divided among favored States and thrown in as 
pabulum to the stock-jobbing herd." 

Jefferson gives us no further details, but it is significant 
that Hamilton carried out his part of the agreement first. 
The House passed the bill locating the Capital on the banks 
of the Potomac, between the Eastern Branch and Conoco- 
cheague Creek, on July 9, 1790, by a vote of 32 to 29. It 
went through the Senate with little delay and was signed by 
the President a few days later. 

Rumors that a bargain had been driven traveled as rap- 
idly as the news that a Capital bill had at last been enacted, 
and the Middle States were far from happy over having the 
seat of government at Philadelphia for ten years only. 

The question of the hour soon became: "Where in Hades 
is the Conococheague ?" The rhymsters and the ready letter 
writers got busy in the newspapers of New York, Boston, 
Charleston and Albany. For the information of the reader 
of today, let it be known that this modest stream — a small 
creek — rises in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and flows 
through Washington County, Maryland, and into the Poto- 

14 



W A S H I X G T X — — OLD A X D X E W 

mac at Williamsport, fully eighty miles from the mouth of 
the Eastern Branch. But the country above the Great Falls 
of the Potomac was never seriously considered. 

The President, under the law, had the right to choose any 
ten square miles he pleased between the two points and 
started his surveys at the extreme eastern boundary pre- 
scribed in the Act. He seems to have been perplexed only 
over the erection of the city in the Federal District. The 
owners of the land at the mouth of the Eastern Branch held 
out for what the President considered unreasonable prices. 
The land adjacent to Georgetown was then decided on, but 
the owners of it also demanded fancy sums and only came 
to terms after George \Yashington himself appeared and 
bargained with them personally. 

An additional act of Congress, passed Alarch 3, 1791, was 
necessary to fix the boundaries of the District of Columbia 
as finally constituted. 

In his proclamation of January 24, 1791, the President 
"prescribed" four lines of experiment, beginning at Hunt-, 
ing Creek, on the Virginia shore, just below Alexandria and 
embracing a portion of territory beyond the Eastern Branch, 
and consequently not included in the law. A second 
proclamation was drawn at Georgetown in Jefferson's own 
hand, read by Washington at Mt. Vernon, all that was as- 
serted about public buildings being stricken out, and it was 
returned to be engrossed before the President signed it, 
which he did on Alarch 30. 

On January 22, 1791, the President appointed Thomas 
Johnson and Daniel Carroll, of Maryland, and David Stew- 
art, of Virginia, Commissioners for surveying the territory 
of the district accepted for the permanent seat of the 
Federal Government. It promptly became apparent, how- 



15 



W ASHTN GTO N OLD A X D N E W 

ever, that the naming of this Committee was little more 
than a compliance with the letter of the act of July 16, 1790. 
Mr. Washington had already done the work. On January 
24, just two days later, letters patent were issued to the 
effect "after duly examining and weighing the advantages 
and disadvantages of several situations'' those portions of 
Maryland and Virginia which now constitute the District 
of Columbia and Alexandria County (the receded portion 
of the District ) respectively had been chosen. This reach- 
ing out for territory not described in the original act. made 
necessary the second enabling act of Congress. 

The date of the beginning of the survey may be fixed 
from the following correspondence: On February 2, 1791, 
Secretary of State Jefferson wrote Major Ellicott : 

"You are desired to proceed by the first stage to the Fed- 
eral Territory on the Potomac to make a survey of it." 

Major Ellicott replied in part, February 14: 

"I arrived at this town on Monday last, but the cloudy 
weather prevented any observation from being made until 
Friday, which was fine. On Saturday the two first lines 
were completed." 

Ellicott officially reported on January 1, 1793, that he 
had completed the work of marking with boundary stones 
the outlines of the Federal territorv. 

Every school child knows today that the elaborate plans 
for a magnificent capital city within the District — now so 
nearly carried out and with such wonderful results — were 
drawn by Major Peter Charles L'Enfant. His great work 
was done in obedience to the following order, dated March 
11, 1791, and signed by Secretary of State Jefferson: 

"Sir: You are desired to proceed to Georgetown, where 
you will find Mr. Ellicott employed in making a survey and 

16 



W ASHINGTON OLD AND N E W 

map of the Federal territory. The especial object of asking 
your aid is to have drawings of the particular grounds most 
likely to be approved for the site of the Federal town and 
buildings. You will, therefore, be pleased to begin on the 
Eastern Branch, and proceed from thence upwards, laying 
down the hills, valleys, morasses and waters between that, 
the Potomac, the Tiber and the road leading from George- 
town to the Eastern Branch, and the whole within certain 
fixed points of the map Mr. Ellicott is preparing. Some 
idea of the height of the hills above the base on which they 
stand would be desirable. For necessary assistance and ex- 
penses, be pleased to apply to the Mayor of Georgetown, 
who is written on the subject. I will beg the favor of you 
to mark to me your progress about twice a week — say every 
Wednesday and Saturday evening — that I may be able in 
proper time to draw attention to some other objects which 
I have not at this moment time sufficient to define." 

Washington took a tremendous interest in the embryo 
city. Frequent trips from his estate, Mt. Vernon, were 
made to Washington, where he conferred with Ellicott 
and L' Enfant, and he was kept constantly advised while at 
Philadelphia of the progress of the work of constructing 
buildings and laying out streets. In addition to having it 
become the most beautiful capital in the world, he wished it 
to be a great commercial center. That time has fulfilled 
this wish only in part is a constant source of gratifica- 
tion to those who realize now the wisdom of having the 
capital city primarily and largely the political, social, artistic 
and literary hub of the nation and a gathering place for 
great thinkers and achievers of great things from all parts 
of the world. 



17 



W A S II I N G T O -V OLD A N D X E IV 

It is interesting to read in the Washington Gazette of 
June 25, 1796, the first paper published in the new city, a 
proclamation by President Washington, setting forth that 
the requirements of building all houses in the Federal city 
of brick or stone, and not less than 3>S feet high, had re- 
tarded the settlement of the city by mechanics and others 
and that, therefore, it would be suspended until the year 
1800. 

Raising funds sufficient to defray the cost of constructing 
public buildings caused the Commissioners of the District 
frequently to hold public auction sales of lots, at one-third 
cash, balance payable in one and two years. 

Probably the greatest speculator in these lots was an 
Englishman, Thomas Law. He was a son of the Bishop of 
Carlisle, and had made a fortune in India prior to coming 
to the United States. Law seems to have invested with 
recklessness and an optimism which would have put a Mul- 
berry Sellers to shame. In the heyday of his fame, and 
business activities, he was married to Elizabeth Parke Cus- 
tis, a granddaughter of Martha Washington. The union 
was not a happy one and in due time they were separated. 
Tradition has it that one morning, while he was at break- 
fast, his negro waiter announced: 

"Massa Thomas, Missus Law died last night." 

"The hell she did? Pass the potatoes," was his only 
reply. 

Of Thomas Law, George Alfred Townsend says: 

"One man only have I ever talked with who personally 
saw Thomas Law, namely, the late Christopher Lowndes, 
of Bladensbnrg, and his father took him to an oyster house 
somewhere in Washington, where they met a grave, sweet 

18 




THOMAS LAW. 



WASHINGTON OLD AND NEW 

old man, with whom they had some oysters, and he read 
them a poem of his own." 

Mr. Samuel Lorenzo Knapp pays Law this tribute : 
"Thomas Law, Esq., has, although now nearly an octo- 
genarian, lately published a book upon currency. He is a 
man of no ordinary powers of mind. His life has been an 
eventful one. In England, his native country, he was con- 
sidered a man of mind. In India he was distinguished for 
his financial talents, and was the great benefactor to the 
natives, by his judicious plans for their relief. He was the 
companion of Teignmouth and the friend of Sir William 
Jones. Active and enterprising, he saw the accounts of the 
establishment of our Federal city, and he hastened to this 
country to identify himself with its growth, from the corner 
stone to the setting of the gates thereof. He purchased 
largely of the soil, built on an extensive scale, suggested ten 
thousand plans for the improvement of the city, and for the 
prosperity of the nation; but the slow, doubtful, and often 
strange course of Congress, came not only in his way, but 
in the way of all those deeply interested in the welfare of 
the city; and he has spent the days of his maturity and 
wisdom in unavailing efforts for the improvement of it. 
It is happy for him, however, that he has lived to see the 
dawn of a better day for Washington; and if he cannot stay 
here long to enjoy it, as a good man he will rejoice in the 
hopes of his friends and descendants. If his disappoint- 
ments have been numerous, yet it cannot be said that they 
have soured his temper or hardened his heart, or that his 
tenants have felt his resentment, because he was deceived by 
those who could have favored his plans. In this world, the 
insults received from those above us, are often repeated by 
those below us, in pitiful and aggravated forms." 

20 



W A S H I N GT O N OLD AND N E W 

David Burns. Washington's "obstinate Mr. Burns," 
owned much of the site of the future Federal city, an inheri- 
tance through several generations of Scotch ancestors, and 
with him President Washington had largely to do in his 
negotiations for the land. 

And there were others, too, with an eye to the windward 
for a real estate speculation, as Thomas S. Woodward at- 
tests : "I picture William Prout, the staid Baltimore mer- 
chant; Benjamin Stoddert. the Revolutionary soldier; Rob- 
ert Morris, the great financier of the colonies; Samuel Blod- 
gett, the lottery man ; the Youngs, gentlemen of the manor 
born; James Greenleaf, the prince of schemers; Thomas 
Law, the man of the world ; George Walker, the canny Scots- 
man, and all the lesser lights, clad in the quaint costume of 
the time, doing business as real estate brokers after the most 
approved methods." 

Richard Parkinson, who toured America in 1798 to 1800, 
and published two volumes of interesting impressions, re- 
ports that there were only 300 houses in Washington when 
he visited it and that the time was not ripe for starting a 
brewery there. Mr. Parkinson further states: "If a man 
wants wit, he may go to America; but if he wants money 
and comfort he should stay at home." A man named 
Blodgett undertook to build a hotel from the proceeds of a 
lottery. He succeeded, and, according to a report published 
in the Washington Gazette at the time, was about the only 
beneficiary of the drawings. The completed building seem* 
to have been almost as much of a fraud as the proprietor, 
for it soon collapsed. 

Many descriptions of the Washington of that day have 
been handed down to us. Thomas Moore, the Irish poet, 
wrote one in 1804, which aptly epitomizes those written in 

21 



W AS H I N GT O N — OLD A X D N E W 

1800, the year when the seat of Government was formally 
transferred from Philadelphia to Washington, as follows : 

"This embryo capital where fancy sees 
Squares in morasses, obelisks in trees ; 
Which secondsighted seers, even now, adorn 
With shrines unbuilt, and heroes yet unborn, 
Though naught but woods and Jefferson they see, 
Where streets should run and sages ought to be." 




CHAPTER II 



ft 



THE WASHINGTON OF ANTE-BELLUM DAYS 



Little does the average person who justly glories in the 
beauties and wonders of Washington of today realize what 
a hopeless looking and disgusting spot it was in October, 
1800, when President John Adams and his practical and 
literary spouse, Abigail, arrived there by stage coach and 
took up their abode at the new marble mansion, known these 
hundred years and more as the White House. Old John 
Randolph, of Roanoke, has likened it unto "the great Ser- 
bonian bog." Daniel Carroll's ancestral acres covered 
the major portion of Capitol Hill and the lots into which 
he was subdividing them were held at such prohibitive fig- 
ures that many homebuilders were being forced into the 
lowlands, where David Burns and Notley Young, a retired 
English sea-captain, were literally doing a "land office busi- 
ness" in what is now known as the northwest section of the 
city. The disgust of Cabinet officers and Congressmen at 
leaving Philadelphia, where the Capital had been located 



23 



WASHINGTON OLD AND N E W 

for ten years, for such a place is reflected in their diaries 
and in newspaper articles published at the time. 

It is well to explain here that had Major Peter Charles 
L'Enfant been allowed to keep secret his plan of the city 
until the sites of the Capitol, Executive Mansion and other 
public buildings in immediate contemplation had all been 
located and the avenues and cross streets laid out, much of 
this confusion and unpreparedness could have been avoided. 
He foresaw the activities of land boomers and other "get- 
rich-quick" men and resolved to keep secret as far as pos- 
sible all desired information. Only Major Andrew Ellicott, 
who was assisting him as surveyor or geographer, knew 
exactly what was being done. In 1792 the three District 
Commissioners ordered L'Enfant to submit his plan to 
them in order that it might be engraved and published for 
the benefit of those intending to buy lots at the Government 
sales. Having arranged a certain system of construction 
and having allowed no one to deviate from it in the least, 
even having gone to the length of tearing down a house 
which was being erected across an avenue, he felt that he 
would be untrue to himself and to his trust if he were to 
obey such an order. So President Washington dismissed 
him March 1, 1792. Upon the recommendation of Thomas 
Jefferson, by direction of the President, that he "should have 
no cause of discontent," the Commissioners notified 
L'Enfant that they had ordered five hundred guineas 
($2,500) paid to him. He promptly declined the money 
and retained the original draft of his plan to the day of his 
death, June 4, 1824, at Dudley Digges's Chellum Castle 
estate, near Bladensburg, Md. This draft is in the office 
of the architect of the Capitol, torn and dingy and yellow 
with age. Ellicott succeeded L'Enfant, followed out his 

24 



IV A S II I X GT O X O L D A X D X E W 

ideas, which he knew by heart, making only a few minor 
changes, and his plan, engraved by Thackara and Wallace, 
of Philadelphia, in 1792, was published in this country and 
Europe. Hence the "land sharks" and chaos. The records 
show that grasping and visionary owners on the one hand 
and those rapacious and often unscrupulous speculators on 
the other frequently caused President Washington to retire 
to Mount Vernon in disgust. He dealt with these people 
direct in many instances, and on one occasion the vulgar 
David Burns, in reply to an argument in favor of transfer- 
ring certain lands to the Government, said: "I suppose, 
Mr. President, you think the people are going to take grist 
from you as pure grain; but what would you have been if 
you had not married the rich widow Custis ?' 

There was great commotion in the "mudhole" and on 
"the hill" when, one morning in October, 1800, a little 
"packet sloop," bringing the records and furniture of the 
departments and some of the officials, dropped anchor in 
the Potomac. Practically the entire population of the city 
gathered on the riverbank and indulged in a hysterical Wel- 
come. President and Mrs. Adams, Secretary of State John 
Marshall, Secretary of the Treasury Oliver Wolcott, Sec- 
retary of War Samuel Dexter and Secretary of the Navy 
Benjamin Stoddert arrived by stage from Baltimore the 
following day. They found the executive mansion ready 
for occupancy, the buildings for housing the executive de- 
partments nearly completed, and one wing of the Capitol 
ready for the Congress, which was to begin its session in a 
few weeks. Abigail Adams promptly dubbed Washington 
the "Wilderness City." 

"Those who had opposed its location were merry over 
'its exceedingly mean and disgusting appearance,' " says 

25 



W AS H I N GT X OLD AND X E IV 

Stilson Hutchins in his "The National Capital," "apparently 
forgetting that Congress had given scant aid to the Com- 
missioners in the work of construction, and had left them to 
depend for money almost entirely on chance gifts and the 
proceeds of the land sales. 

"\\ hen one reads the records of the vexatious delays in 
erecting the public buildings and improving the highways 
for lack of means, of the quarrels among those in authority, 
of the jealousy and opposition constantly displayed, the 
wonder is not that the capital city was a mean, dismal place 
in 1800 and only fit to be the laughing stock of the country, 
but that its builders should have been able in the face of 
the obstacles they encountred to make it bear the slightest 
semblance to a city." 

From 1800 to 1815 was a critical period for the new 
city. Many even in official life were skeptical as to its 
future, the anticipated rapid growth was not materializing, 
failures as a result of feverish speculations in town lots and 
of erecting buildings beyond the demands of business were 
numerous and scandalous. There was a general desire 
that the whole scheme should be abandoned. Removal to 
any of a dozen places would have been heartily welcomed. 
The American people were apparently indifferent to their 
capital city. They simply refused to be interested in its 
building or in the proper conduct of its local affairs. How 
often have they been charged in more recent years with 
being just as apathetic ! That the population increased from 
8,208 in 1810 only to 13,474 in 1820 was exasperating to 
the optimistic friends of the city. Jurisdiction over the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, which included the present District and 
what is now Alexandria City, Va., and contained the sep- 
arate cities of Washington, Georgetown and Alexandria, 
was formally assumed by Congress in 1801. Washington 

26 



W A SHI N G T O N OLD AND NEW 

was incorporated in 1802 and the President was empowered 
to appoint its Mayor, the people being allowed to elect only 
the Council. This plan caused much dissatisfaction. So a 
few years later Congress transferred to the Council and 
to the people the right to elect the Mayor. No further 
material change in the municipal form of government was 
made until 1871, when the city charter was repealed and a 
territorial form of government was established. 

Yet this was the Washington of Thomas Jefferson, of 
Tames and Dolly Madison, of James Monroe, of Henry 
Clay in the prime of his brilliant career, of Alexander Ham- 
ilton and Aaron Burr, of John Randolph, and of the early 
political days of Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun. It 
was the Washington of strife and trials for the young re- 
public — those were really days of beauty, of wit and chivalry 
— and of a genuine Democracy. 

By far the most authentic account of the capital of that 
period is to be found in a small book written by Jonathan 
Eliott eighty years ago. In part, he says: "President Jef- 
ferson did much to further the prosperity of the city by 
procuring grants of money for carrying on the public budd- 
ing; he also gave encouragement to all the improvements 
brought forward during his administration. He caused 
Pennsylvania Avenue to be opened and planted with trees. 
President Madison was also friendly to the city, but owing 
to the restrictions on commerce and the subsequent war 
during his administration little progress was made in the 
public works. But it was in the administration of Presi- 
dent Monroe that the most extensive and valuable improve- 
ments were made in every part of the city, and the public 
money expended on the national works with the greatest 
liberality." 



27 



W A S H I X G T X OLD A X D X EW 

It is interesting to look over the riles of the National 
Intelligencer, the leading newspaper of that period. We 
learn that the Great Hotel, erected in 1793 by Samuel Blod- 
gett on the square now occupied by the General Land Office, 
was a popular abiding place for a few years, but following 
the disastrous failure of its owner, was supplanted in public 
favor by the "Little Hotel" and the Metropolitan Hotel, 
whose name was changed in 1820 to "Indian Queen." The 
latter was conveniently located on Pennsylvania Avenue 
and was a favorite resort with Congressmen. The fame 
of Jesse Brown, the genial proprietor, became international. 
We learn also from the National Intelligencer that Wash- 
ington was the scene of much pleasant social activity, which 
seems to have been of a most democratic nature. "The in- 
habitants are social and hospitable, and respectable strangers, 
after the slightest introduction, are invited to dinner, tea, 
balls and evening parties." 

Naturally, the overshadowing local event of the first 
twenty years of the City of Washington's existence as the 
capital of the Nation, was the burning of the White House 
and the Capitol building August 24, 1814, by the British. 
The visit of the enemy was not wholly unexpected, but it 
threw the high officials into a state of panic just the same. 
News that British troops had been landed on the banks of 
the Patuxent River and were marching across Maryland to 
the capital was received by courier and preparations to 
evacuate the city, with only a show of resistance, were 
promptly made. First reports were that the enemy was 
16,000 strong. On August 21, President Madison, accom- 
panied by the Secretary of W T ar and the Secretary of the 
Navy, joined General Winder, who commanded about 3,000 
American troops and was encamped at Wood's, a point to 
the southeast of the city. The following day they returned 

28 



WASHINGTON OLD A N D N E W 

to see that all books and papers of the department were sent 
away and that all citizens left the place. Winder's troops 
gave battle to the British at Bladensburg, rive miles out of 
Washington, but were soon put to rout, fleeing in all direc- 
tions. The enemy encountered real opposition, however, 
from a few hundred sailors with cannon commanded by 
Commodore Joshua Barney, a privateersman, who were 
holding a hill near the city. In due time they, too, were put 
to flight and their commander, badly wounded, was captured. 

So easy was the entrance to Washington that General 
Ross and his British troops seemed to regard the excursion 
from the Patuxent as a sort of schoolboys' prank. Arriv- 
ing at the Capitol grounds early in the evening of the 24th, 
they fired into the windows of the building and then 
marched into the House of Representatives wing. Troops 
filled the chamber. Admiral Cockburn, commander of the 
naval force, was escorted to the chair by General Ross. He 
rapped for order and shouted: "Shall this harbor of Yankee 
Democracy be burned? All for it say aye!" The response 
was unanimous and the approval uproarious. Then the 
shout went up: "Fire the building." Ross gave the order. 
All papers, books, pictures and other combustible materials 
were heaped on the floor in the center of the Hall and a 
lighted torch applied. The flames spread rapidly. When 
the ruin of the beautiful building was complete the troops 
proceeded to the Executive Mansion to continue their job 
of destroying the seat of government. 

Dolly Madison remained at the White House until after 
the Battle of Bladensburg. The President sent messages 
to her, advising her to flee to a place of safety. On receiv- 
ing his message, August 24, between 2 and 3 P.M., she 
ordered sent away in a wagon silver plate and many other 
valuables to be deposited in the Bank of Maryland at Balti- 

29 



IV AS HI N GT N OLD A N D N E W 

more. Then she turned her attention to the full length por- 
trait of George Washington, painted by Stuart. Finding 
the process of unscrewing the massive frame from the wall 
too cumbersome, she ordered it broken to pieces, and then 
personally removed the canvas. J. G. Barker and R. G. L. 
De Peyster. two visitors from Xew York, entered the room 
at this juncture. As the picture lay on the floor, they heard 
troops approach. 

"Save that picture," ordered the fascinating Dolly. "Save 
it if possible; if not possible, destroy it; under no circum- 
stances allow it to fall into the hands of the British." 

President Madison had arrived. Mrs. Madison snatched 
up the engrossed original of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, hastened to her carriage and drove with her husband 
and her sister to a refuge beyond the Potomac. Barker and 
De Peyster joined the retreating army and left the picture 
at a farm house. It was returned to Mrs. Madison a few 
weeks later and now hangs in the Blue Room of the White 
House. The Declaration of Independence is carefully pre- 
served, in a glass case, at the State Department. The de- 
struction of the Executive Mansion was practically complete, 
only a part of the walls being left standing. It was not re- 
built until 1818. 

On the day following these awful depredations, the Brit- 
ish troops robbed and burned stores and dwellings at will. 
They destroyed the workshop in the Navy Yard, the fort 
at Grenleaf's, and would doubtless have left not even a 
shanty standing had they not received a report that night 
that a large force of American troops was about to enter 
the city. This caused them to retreat post haste, every man 
for himself, to Marlboro. A few days later they went 
aboard their ships and sailed away to the Chesapeake Bay 
and safety. 



30 




DOLLY MADISON. 



WASHINGTO N OLD AND NEW 

For some time following" this remarkable and humiliating 
occurrence, it-looked as if nothing could prevent the removal 
of the National Capital farther inland or at least to some 
point where it would be better protected against a foreign 
foe. Advocates of new centers, even of a few west of the 
Alleghanies, were especially active in their efforts to secure 
it. They fought hard, doing everything they could think 
of to prevent appropriations for the restoration of the pub- 
lic buildings. In February, 1815, however, Congress passed 
a bill authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to borrow 
$500,000 for the purpose. That settled the matter for all 
time. Land boomers became active again, but there was also 
plenty of legitimate private enterprise, and in the next de- 
cade Washington increased materially in population and in 
beauty. The better understanding with the British, as a 
result of General Andrew Tackson's successful termination 
of the war, seemed to inspire the Capital and Nation alike 
with a hope and a confidence which had never before been 
evident. As was inevitable, the city rapidly became a center 
of wealth and fashion. 

Second in social and political importance only to the burn- 
ing of the Capitol and the White House was the two weeks' 
visit of General, the Marquis de Lafayette, which began 
Tuesday, October 12, 1824. He drove through the city in 
a barouche drawn by four white horses, which were led by 
grooms in white livery. Many military companies, civic 
societies, etc., formed a parade more than two miles long. 
On the line of march the distinguished warrior was met by 
25 beautiful maidens attired in white muslin and blue scarfs, 
their heads decorated with wreaths of red flowers. They 
were supposed to represent the 24 States of which the Union 
was at the time composed and the District of Columbia. 
At the Capitol, Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House of 

32 




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pi i> o 



W A S H I X GT N OLD A X D X E IV 

Representatives, greeted him ; President Monroe showed him 
marked distinction at the White House. Many and brilliant 
were the entertainments given in honor of Lafayette. Not 
more than two decades ago there resided in Washington a 
number of persons who remembered them vividly and were 
wont to describe them. 

"During the early months of 1829 an affair at Washing- 
ton, known as the Eaton scandal, created much public ex- 
citement," says Henry William Elson in his "History of 
the United States." "This matter would not merit the 
notice of serious history but for the permanent effect it had 
upon the Administration. Many years before this time a 
William O'Neal had kept a tavern at Washington, and his 
house became the lodging place of many Government offi- 
cials. Among the boarders was Senator John H. Eaton 
from Tennessee. O'Neal had a daughter, a witty young 
beauty, known over the city as Peggy O'Neal. She 
was quite free with the inmates of her father's house, 
and especially with Air. Eaton — until the gossips were set 
going and her name became tainted. At length Peggy 
O'Neal married a Mr. Timberlake, of the navy, but he died 
by suicide in the Mediterranean; and in January, 1829, 
Eaton, who was still in the Senate, married the widow. 
Mrs. Eaton now set out to gratify the ambition of her life 
—to become a leader in Washington society. But her for- 
mer history was exhumed and most of the ladies of the city 
refused to recognize her. This was the state of affairs when 
Jackson arrived in the city. Eaton had been one of his chief 
campaign managers and the O'Neals had a warm place in 
Jackson's heart, as he also had been their guest while serving 
in the Senate a few years before. 

"Remembering the slanders against his own wife, now- 
deceased, believing Mrs. Eaton to be innocent and believ- 

34 



W AS H I N G T O X OLD A N D N E W 

ing also that the gossip about her was inspired by Henry 
Clay with the object of ruining her husband, Jackson deter- 
mined to espouse the cause of the Eatons. He appointed 
Air. Eaton to his Cabinet and did everything in his power to 
clear the name of his wife and to give her a standing in 
society. He wrote scores of letters, he called Cabinet meet- 
ings, he attended stately dinners — all for Mrs. Eaton. But 
the women who held the key to the inner sacred circle de- 
clined to open the door to Mrs. Eaton. General Jackson 
now practically informed the members of his Cabinet that 
their political fortunes depended on the recognition by their 
wives of Mrs. Eaton; but these men were powerless; their 
wives simply refused, and that was the 'end of it.' Even 
the President's niece, the mistress of the White House, 
made a stand. 'Anything else, Uncle, I will do for you, but 
I cannot call on Mrs. Eaton.' 'Then go back to Tennessee, 
my dear,' said the President, and she went back to Tennes- 
see. Thus the hero of New Orleans, the old iron warrior 
who had never known defeat in battle, was completely de- 
feated by the women. The Cabinet was now inharmonious 
in the extreme, and after hanging together till the spring 
of 1831, it broke to pieces and a new Cabinet was formed. 
"Aside from disrupting the Cabinet, the Eaton scandal 
had another and still more marked effect on American his- 
tory. It built the fortunes of the Secretary of State. Mar- 
tin Van Buren was at this time a widower and without 
daughters, and he could well afford to give his energies to 
the cause that was so dear to his chief. He called on Mrs. 
Eaton; he arranged balls and dinners for her: he spoke of 
her virtue in every social circle ; he sought out the British and 
Russian ministers, both bachelors, and secured their aid in 
pushing Mrs. Eaton to the front. And he succeeded, not in 
having her recognized in Washington society, but in in- 

35 



W A S II I N G T X L I) A N D N E IV 

trenching" himself in the heart of General Jackson. Never 
from this moment was there a break between the two, 
though as unlike they were as winter and balmy spring. It 
was soon after this time that Jackson decided to name Van 
Buren as his choice for the Presidential succession, and his 
decision was final, for his party was all powerful and he 
swayed the party as Jefferson had done thirty years before." 

From 1820 to 1860 the city of Washington was badly 
governed and was still far from pleasing to look upon. It 
was the Washington of John Marshall and Roger B. Taney, 
of "Tippecanoe (Harrison) and Tyler, too," of Thomas H. 
Benton and James K. Polk, of Buchanan and Breckinridge, 
but it was not yet a comfortable abiding place. The fol- 
lowing description from "The National Capital," by Stilson 
Hutchins and Joseph West Moore, tells in a nutshell what 
conditions were : 

"A writer draws this picture of society : 'The first things 
that strikes a stranger is the affectation of style and fashion 
which seems to pervade almost every rank and class. The 
President opens his drawing room every fortnight for re- 
ception of such as may please to visit him ; and his Cabinet 
secretaries give dinners and evening parties during" the ses- 
sion of Congress. The subordinate officers of the Govern- 
ment, clerks, etc., also follow the example, and although 
their salaries are small and their means limited, they fancy 
it would be unpardonable not to ape those above them and 
be what is called fashionable, and thus they plunge into the 
vortex of ruin. They give evening parties, pay morning 
visits with cards, in their own carriages, or any they can 
procure, give routs, go to assemblies, and, in short, exhibit 
every folly their superiors think proper to practice because 
it is said to be haut ton and they cannot think of being un- 
fashionable, whatever may be the result. 

36 




ANDREW JACKSON. 



IV AS H I N GT N OLD A N D NEW 

"Every one who lived in what was called the ' court end ' 
of the city kept a carriage of some kind, and it was said 
' many persons would even ride to church when the dis- 
tance was not more than a hundred paces. ' Members of 
Congress were in great request for all the parties, and the 
prominent ones could not accept half the invitations they 
received. Outside of its fashionable life, however, the city 
was apparently in ' a long dead calm of fixed repose, ' and 
its development year by year was very slow. It was not 
until 1830 that Pennsylvania Avenue, the central thorough- 
fare, was paved, and then it was done cheaply and badly. 
There were only two small public schools. On August 25, 
1835, the Washington branch of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad was opened, but it was as late as 1851 that stages 
to the West ceased to run. In 1836 the Long Bridge across 
the Potomac to Virginia was opened, and has continued in 
use to the present day. It was constructed at a cost of 
$100,000 and is a mile in length. 

"In 1840 the city had 23,364 people. On the 1st of 
March, 1844. a terrible catastrophe occurred. A large party 
of officials and prominent residents visited the warship 
' Princeton,' lying off Alexandria, and sailed in her a short 
distance down the river. On the return trip a cannon burst 
while being fired, killing Secretary of State Upshur, Secre- 
tary of the Navy Gilmer, and three other persons, and seri- 
ously injuring eighteen others. From 1840 to 1850 the gain 
in population was nearly 17,000; from 1850 to 1860, over 
21,000. The census of the latter years shows a population of 
61,222, and in the entire District of Columbia, 75,080. 
Washington entered upon the trying years of the Civil W r ar 
a very unattractive place. Those who had business with 
the Government came to the city, looked with surprise and 
contempt at its muddy, unpaved streets and rude, insignifi- 

38 



W ASHINGTOX OLD AND NEW 

cant private buildings, and went away as soon as possible. 
It was a capital sprawling over a great territory, but remark- 
able only for its distances and discomforts and its listless 
daily life." 





CHAPTER III 



& 



WASHINGTON DURING AND AFTER 
THE CIVIL WAR 



0~~ LL IMPRESSIONS of hasty travel are necessarily 
chaotic, but it must be admitted that Charles 
_ Dickens, who did not see the "States" as a normal 
traveler does, had formed a pretty accurate estimate of our 
national capital on his first visit to the United States. 

In his "American Notes" he gives a description of the 
Federal City in 1842, which truthfully applies twenty years 
later : 

"It is sometimes called the City of Magnificent Distances, 
but it might with greater propriety be termed the City of 
Magnificent Intentions, for it is only on taking a bird's-eye 
view of it from the top of the Capitol, that one can at all 
comprehend the vast designs of its projector, an aspiring- 
Frenchman. Spacious avenues, that begin in nothing, and 
lead nowhere; streets, miles long, that want houses, roads 
and inhabitants; public buildings that need but a public to 
be complete; and ornaments of great thoroughfares which 
lack only great thoroughfares to ornament — are its leading 

41 



W A S HI N GTO N OLD A X D X E W 

features. * * It has no trade or commerce of its 

own; having little or no population beyond the President 
and his establishment; the members of the legislature who 
reside there during the session; the Government clerks and 
officers employed in the hotels and boarding-houses ; and the 
tradesmen who supply their tables. 

"Few people would live in Washington, I take it, who 
were not obliged to reside there, and the tides of emigration 
and speculation, those rapid and regardless currents, are 
little likely to flow at any time towards such dull and slug- 
gish waters." 

While Dickens is represented as viewing America with 
ill nature, coldness, or even animosity, it cannot be denied 
that the picture he gives of the City of Washington at the 
time of his tour of our country is substantially correct. 

In "Bentley's Miscellany" for 1861 appeared an article en- 
titled "The Federal City of Washington," by J. G. Kohl, 
evidently a foreigner. "The streets are miles in length and 
superfluously broad, and in the suburbs small cottages 
stand at wide intervals. Only in the center is there a more 
compact body, and the whole resembles a frame of Berlin 
woodwork in which the fair embroidress has made spas- 
modic attempts at commencement. * * * " 

"There is no state in the world which possesses propor- 
tionately so small, scantily populated, and shabby a capital 
as the American Union. * * * Pennsylvania Avenue 
connects the House of Congress and the White House in a 
straight line, and is hence one of the principal arteries of 
circulation in the city. It was for a long time the only paved 
street in Washington, and, indeed, the majority of the 
streets are still without that useful article. During the 
rainy weather, consequently, the city is a swamp and the 

42 



WASHINGTON OLD A N D N E W 

dry season constantly full of dust clouds. Along Pennsyl- 
vania Avenue are the principal shops, and hence it is the 
favorite, almost sole, promenade of the fair sex. * * 
A little muddy stream, which in winter bears a little water 
along the base of the Capitol, but in summer is hardly liquid 
enough for geese, is called Tiber Creek. * * * 

"Washington is well provided with pleasant gardens, 
clumps of trees, alleys and flower beds. This circumstance, 
and especially that of the long rows of trees accompanying 
the streets, gives the city a very pleasant aspect and it looks 
like a large rural village. The prettiest gardens and public 
places are around the White House or the Mansion, as it is 
called in the higher and official style. * * * During 
spring, which often begins here in February with the pleas- 
antest day and the mildest air, the city assumes an almost 
idyllic garb. 

"The kine pasture in the streets, the bull frogs croak and 
roar in the side lanes. The birds of passage twitter in all 
the trees and the humming birds flash around every flower. 
* * * A portion of the Washington street population 
consists of negroes, both free and slaves. * * * On 
Sunday the city appears almost entirely to belong to the 
negroes, for on that day they, and especially their wives, 
or, as they call them, 'ladies,' parade in the most elegant 
costumes, the most glaring colors, the broadest crinolines, 
rustling in silks, and most closely imitating the white ladies 
and gentlemen." 

The following is an extract from a paper by Mrs. Mary 
E. W. Sherwood, appearing in "Lippincott's Magazine," in 
August, 1894: 

"It was a straggling mudhole in winter, but when spring 
came it was as beautiful (in spots) as it is now, and it had a 

43 



W A S H I N G T X — OLD A X D X E W 

gentler climate than at present. I have picked roses in Jan- 
uary in Mrs. Seaton's garden. 

"Mrs. Fremont, her sister Sue Benton, some pretty girls 
named Smith, the gifted nieces of Madame Calderon, the 
beautiful Mrs. Barton Key; in fact, all our neighbors, on 
summer evenings would run about to visit each other with- 
out bonnets. People sat on doorsteps and I have often seen 
a set of intimates walk up Pennsylvania Avenue to the old 
Capitol grounds, attended by Senators and secretaries, with 
their heads bare, at seven o'clock on a fine summer evening." 
How delightful the informality characterizing the social 
intercourse of fifty years ago ! 

Could Kohl or some other of his foreign contemporaries 
revisit the Capital city today, they would find much in Penn- 
sylvania Avenue to remind them of the past, but in the mag- 
nificent city spreading gracefully out before them in strict 
conformity with the plans of the gifted L'Enfant they 
would detect nothing to suggest the "straggling mudhole" 
of the 60's. 

To properly understand the growth of the city it is but 
necessary to reflect that its population fifty years ago 
was i)nl\- about one- fourth of what it is at the present day; 
there was no municipal improvement of any importance; 
everything was neglected in the "all absorbing question of 
slavery and the fate of the Union." The muddy streets, 
now well paved avenues, resounded to the tramp of march- 
ing troops ; where now are the homes of the rich were then 
the hovels of the poor; the beautiful parks and government 
reservations of today were then used as camps and barracks ; 
frowning forts "with bristling guns broke through the ver- 
dure of the adjacent fields and crowned the hills on either 
side of the Potomac." 



44 



WASHINGTON OLD A X D N E W 

Small chance was there at the close of the war or in the 
next few succeeding years for formulating a plan for mu- 
nicipal improvement. Washington was a disorganized, 
hopeless and disrupted community. 

Although at the commencement of the Capitol in 1851 
the city began to show some signs of substantial prosperity, 
it was not until the year 1872 that it began to afford an evi- 
dence of its subsequent strength and greatness. Washing- 
ton surely needed a shock of awakening. The agitation for 
the change of the seat of government was as great at the 
close of the Civil War as it had been after the burning and 
invasion by the British in 1814. Sixty years after that time 
the city was still in an unfinished state ; the Capitol was in- 
complete ; the White House was out of repair; the streets 
were mainly swamps, and there was a general despondency 
about the site. 

The timely impetus to civic awakening was given in rather 
an amusing way. "A red bearded, crippled, Quilpish-looking 
man, of St. Louis, Missouri, by name Mr. L. Q. Reavis, 
with a certain sense of resistance about him and an uncer- 
tain sense of reformation took it in his head that St. Louis 
had been slighted and ought to be the Capital of the Gov- 
ernment. He had a simple nature, a love of circulation and 
public consideration, and some hopes of authorship. Per- 
fectly honest, always approachable, always approaching, 
loose and continuous in argument, striking high for eminent 
attention, and carrying acquaintace by the assiduity with 
which he cultivated it, Mr. Reavis tested to extremities the 
power of the unit of citizenship to upset the Capital city and 
drag it away. His ingenuities were all in the noblest nature 
of destructiveness. He had very little to propose in the way 
of reconstruction, and was indifferent whether the public 

45 



W AS H I N GT N OLD AND N E W 

edifice should be carried away piecemeal or abandoned to 
the unworthy people on the Potomac. But it happened at 
the moment that the strength of the dominant part in the 
West, the fever of change, the opening of the Pacific Rail- 
road and other lines to the extreme frontier, and perhaps 
more than all the rising agitation on the subject of free trade 
which the Western free traders hoped to settle in their favor 
by getting Congress amongst them, gave a noisy, and it was 
thought a favorable, celebrity to Mr. Reavis' scheme. Mr. 
Horace Greely favored the removal in the New York Trib- 
une, and a convention or two were held in St. Louis. 

"The conservative sense, reverence and thrift of the na- 
tion prevailed, however, and Congress settled the question 
by voting a large sum of money to begin a grand State De- 
partment at Washington which should cost several millions. 
The city itself at its own expense put on a new apparel, and 
the national appropriations of 1872-3 were unusually gen- 
erous and even excessive." 

With the advent of Alexander R. Shepherd upon the 
scenei any further serious consideration of the change of 
the seat of government ceased. His was the master 
hand, his the directing force and energy controlling the 
new and greater Washington. 

Alexander R. Shepherd was a native of the District 
who had been fairly successful in a number of business 
enterprises. His building operations began timidly at 
first in 1865, but gradually increased in magnitude. He 
put up "several Philadelphia rows of brick houses ad- 
jacent to the old Duddington house of the Carrolls" and 
also built the first business structure of any consequence 
on Pennsylvania Avenue. President Grant was quick 
to recognize the zeal and ability of Shepherd, and was 

46 




ALEXANDER R. SHEPHERD. 
(From photograph loaned by Frank A. Miller, Esq.) 



IV ASHINGTO N OLD AND NEW 

the first to take up in a large way the plans of Washing- 
ton which had been developed by L' Enfant, but which 
had remained untouched for nearly three-quarters of a 
century, because of the neglect of the National Govern- 
ment. Former Commissioner Henry B. F. Macfarland, 
in one of his many interesting and instructive addresses 
upon the National Capital, says: "He (Grant) helped 
Alexander R. Shepherd, the bright young Washing- 
tonian, strong of frame and mind, to secure from Con- 
gress, which is the Supreme Legislative authority for 
the District of Columbia, power to make real and actual 
the paper streets and avenues of Washington's plan, 
and Alexander R. Shepherd, the Commissioners and the 
Congress of the United States from the dusty map of 
this talented Frenchman impressed upon the marshes, 
upon the woodlands and on the hills its outline, and, 
out of the green earth arose the new Washington, as 
from the stroke of the enchanter's wand." 

An enthusiastic writer has this to say about the im- 
provements accomplished, and projected, during Grant's 
first administration : "Washington changed character 
almost entirely after the war. Northern capital moved 
in and fine architecture prevailed in private buildings. 
The very form of government was altered and a Board 
of Public W r orks took the paving of streets out of the 
hands of the local legislature. 

"The appropriations are now greater than they have 
ever been in the history of the city — far greater than 
when the place was first pitched here. They amount to 
about $3,000,000 direct this year, and nearly $2,000,000 
for public edifices. The Capitol edifice itself gets a 
snubbing, the architect being a shy man who had not 
learned the art of lobbying and could only state the ne- 

48 




WOODROW WILSON 



W A S H I X GT O X OLD A X D X E W 

cessity of repairs at least. But the great new renais- 
sance building- for the State, War and Navy Depart- 
ments has received a lift which will cover it with stone- 
cutters as soon as spring opens ; a new statue of General 
Thomas is ordered to cost $40,000, and the Farragut 
statue is taken out of the hands of the artists of the 
lobby. In two years from this period, there will be six 
colossal statues in the streets of this city, five of them 
equestrain, Washington, Jackson, Scott, Grant, Thomas 
and Farragut, besides out-of-door statues of Lincoln, 
Scott and Washington. * * * Several new street 
railways are authorized and the building permits applied 
for or granted show an extraordinary advance in con- 
struction, much of which is of a villa character in the 
suburbs. In May the whole line of the Baltimore and 
Potomac Road will be opened, as well as the new 
Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio. And the Municipal 
Government has spent $8,300,000 in about eighteen 
months, according to its own report, and its opponents 
say $14,000,000, assessed upon nearly the full valuation 
of property." 

In view of the above use of the terms "lobby" and "lobby- 
ist" and the fixed determination of President Wilson's 
administration to relegate both to the past, it is inter- 
esting to read the same writer's definition of them: 
"The word 'Lobby,' as anybody might guess, is derived 
from the part of the Capitol where people go who have 
objects to attain on the floors of Congress but not the 
right of access. In the Latin lobby signifies a covered 
portico- — pit for walking, and in the Capitol at Wash- 
ington the lobbies are long, lofty and lighted corridors 
completely enclosing both halls of legislation. One of 
the four sides of this lobby is guarded by a door-keeper, 

50 



W ASH I N GT O N OLD A X D N E W 

who can generally be seduced by good treatment or a 
douceur to admit people to his privacy, and in this 
darkened corridor the lobbyists call out their members 
and make their solicitations. 

"The lobby at AYashington is referred to by the archi- 
tect Latrobe as early as 1806. He explains that 'the 
lobby of the House is so separated from it that those 
who retire to it cannot see and probably will not dis- 
tinctly hear what is going forward in it. This arrange- 
ment,' he says, 'has been made with the approbation of 
the President of the United States, and also under the 
advice of the Speakers of the two Houses at the time 
when the designs were made.' * * * 

"A lobbyist is an operator upon his acquaintance, his 
wits and his audacity. Your lobbyist may be an old 
man, whose experience, aplomb, suavity or venerable- 
ness may recommend him. He may be a strong man in 
middle life, who commands what he is paid for doing 
by a knowledge of his own force and magnetism. He 
may be an adroit young man, free of hollow profession, 
who dexterously leads his victim along from terrace to 
terrace of sentimentality, until that dell is reached where 
the two men become confederates, and may whisper the 
truth to each other." 

The type of character the writer had in mind has 
passed away. His departure may be said to have been 
synchronous with the disappearance of the old hotels 
of AYashington. At the close of the war, dining played 
a great part in American politics. "The lobby man dines 
the Representative; the Representative dines the Sena- 
tor; the Senator dines the charming widow, and the 
charming widow dines her coming man." The politician 
found Hancock's a place for his reed birds and mixed 

51 



WASHINGTON OLD AND N E W 

drinks; Harvey's for oysters; Chamberlin's for the best 
of everything in dining and good fellowship; and Worm- 
ley's for a quiet supper. Charles Dickens says AYelcker 
kept the best restaurant in the world. 

The Old Willard Hotel enjoyed during and after the 
war a large patronage. Here is a fragment from a diary 
picked up in its corridors many years ago: "April 22, 
1868 — Dear me, how tired! I am in Washington, the 
Capital of the United States. It's not larger than New 
York, my husband, Alonzo, says, which I think is a 
great shame. Government ought to make it bigger 
right away, or have it somewhere where it would get 
bigger, itself. The maps are all incorrect about Wash- 
ington, where it is represented by a great many dots, 
while all the other towns have only one dot. We went 
to Willard's Hotel, and, in order to give us a fine view 
of the city, they put us up in the top story. We went 
down to breakfast at nine o'clock, and called for oysters, 
of course. They tasted as if they had been caught in 
warm water. The first shad was quite a bone to pick. 
My dear husband took a cocktail before breakfast. He 
says it's quite the thing here. Senator Tatterson joined 
him, he says. I hope my husband will never be a drunk- 
ard." "N. B. — He says the Senator took his straight." 

At the breaking out of the Civil War the leading 
hotels on Pennsylvania Avenue were Brown's, Owen's, 
Victoria, Henry Clay, Willard's, Kirkwood and Na- 
tional. Of these all save Brown's (now the Metropoli- 
tan) and the National have disappeared. The Ebbitt 
House came into prominence during the war and ac- 
quired earlv a celebrity as the headquarters of the Army 
and Navy. Completely revivified and rehabilitated, it 
retains today all of its old popularity and charm. 



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W A S H I X GT O N OLD AND N E W 

George Alfred Townsend says of the Ebbitt in 1872: 
"It is now a very elegant mansion, six stories high and 
of a bright, cheerful color, which lightens the spirits of 
the guests ; from every window canopies of canvas de- 
pend to cool the interior through the summer; for this 
house, unlike several in Washington, is kept open the 
whole year around. The taste of the proprietor, Caleb 
C. AVillard, Esq., is displayed in the elegant French pa- 
vilions, and broken lines of the roof, and in the series of 
classical window mouldings, which liken the establish- 
ment to the finer class of the public edifices. The new 
dining room (vide the present one) is made to include 
two entire stories in height, and the lofty ceiling is 
beautifully frescoed, while the windows are given nearly 
the loftiness of the hall, thus bathing the apartment in 
the exquisite light of this latitude. Beneath the dining 
room is the historic line of offices known over the whole 
country as 'Newspaper Row.' The newspaper corre- 
spondents had pitched upon this block before a hotel 
was devised, on account of its immediate proximity to 
the telegraph offices, the Treasury, all the lines of city 
communication, and as it was centrally situated to the 
White House and the great departments. * * * 

"In this house have put up nearly all the eminent 
sailors and soldiers of the country : Rogers, Farragut, 
Worden, Canby, Thomas, Porter, Winslow, Boggs, 
Case, Drayton and the rest." 

Brief as is this description, it gives a fair idea of what 
the Ebbitt was ; what it is is best attested by its estab- 
lished position in the forefront of American hotels of 
today. 

No story of Washington is complete without mention 
of the National, the first hotel building of large dimen- 

54 



WASHINGTON OLD AND NEW 

sions erected in the city ; and indissolubly connected 
with the nation's history. It has well withstood the 
test of time, and today enjoys a large and country- 
wide popularity. It was built about 1827. In 
suite known as 17 and 18 Henry Clay died; Alexander 
Stephens occupied these rooms when a member of Con- 
gress. In the Civil War the Supreme Court of the 
United States lived at the National ; and from then until 
now it has been the home of men prominent in all walks 
of life. 

Through the courtesy of Mr. G. F. Schutt, proprietor 
of the Ebbitt and National Hotels, the writer is enabled 
to publish the following: 

"The Hon. E. G. Spaulding, member of Congress 
from New York, gave a private dinner party Thursday 
evening, February 28, 1861, at the National Hotel, to 
the President (Abraham Lincoln) and Vice-President- 
elect. 

"The following invited guests w r ere present: Lieuten- 
ant-General Winfield Scott. Commander of the Army; 
Edward Bates, of Missouri; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana; 
Salmon P. Chase, Senator from Ohio ; Judge Ira Harris, 
of New York; Wm. E. Dodge, a member of the Peace 
Congress of 1861 ; Thurlow Weed, New York journal- 
ist; General Alexander S. Webb; Judge David Davis, 
from Illinois; Wm. H. Seward, Senator from New 
York; Simon Cameron, Senator from Pennsylvania; 
Preston King, Senator from New York ; John J. Crit- 
tenden. Senator from Kentucky; John P. Hale, Senator 
from New Hampshire ; Zachariah Chandler, Senator from 
Michigan ; E. B. Washburn, member Congress from 
Illinois; H. Winter Davis, M. C. from Maryland; W. 
Pennington, M. C, from New Jersey; John Sherman, 

56 




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W A S II ING'T X OLD AND X E W 

XV. C, from Ohio; Charles Francis Adams. M. C, from 
Massachusetts; J. A. Farly. M. C, from Ohio. Before 
leaving the hotel, the President accepted an invitation 
to visit the ladies' parlor, where he received a hearty 
welcome from the lady guests of the hotel. 

"Many of the names above became noted during the 
great crisis which Mr. Lincoln was about to enter. The 
following went into his Cabinet: Win, H. Seward, Sec- 
retary of State; Simon Cameron, Secretary of War; 
Edward Bates, Attorney-General; Caleb B. Harris was 
elected United States Senator in 1861, and it was his 
daughter who. with Major Rathbone, of the army, ac- 
companied Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln to Ford's Theatre on 
the night of April 14, 1865. 

''Believing this to be an interesting item, I cheerfully 
present it to the Oldroyd Lincoln Memorial collection 
for preservation. 

"(Signed) G. F. Schutt, Manager, 

''National Hotel. 

"National Hotel, Dec. 28, 1904." 

How a famous hotel advertised in 1828 is entertain- 
inglv set forth in the Louisville Public Advertiser: 

NATIONAL HOTEL 
WASHINGTON CITY. 

"This spacious and extensive building, believed to be 
one of the largest hotels in the United States (capable 
of accommodating two hundred persons), is now nearly 
finished and ready for the reception of the public. 

"As it has been expressly erected for a house of pub- 
lic entertainment, the plan of the building, together 

58 



WASHINGTO N OLD AND N E W 

with its interior arrangements and conveniences, are be- 
lieved to be such as to give universal satisfaction and 
render its accommodations superior to what is gener- 
ally met with. There are 80 single and 50 double- 
bedded chambers, 12 parlors and drawing rooms, with 
a suitable number of very excellent and comfortable 
family lodging rooms adjoining, all of which are newly 
furnished in very handsome style, with separate en- 
trance to that part of the house, which makes it as de- 
sirable for families as a private dwelling. 

"As the house is so extensive, and the expenses neces- 
sarily incurred in carrying on so large an establishment 
must go on, the proprietor is determined, in order to en- 
courage business, to reduce his charges to one dollar 
per day at the public table:, to all persons who stop for a 
longer period than a week, and occupy a room with more 
than one bed, and for a shorter period at the rate of one 
dollar and twenty-five cents per day. The charge for 
families will have a proportionate reduction. The 
stabling is extensive and the charges for livery moder- 
ate. The liquors are of the best quality that can be pro- 
cured, and the wines, some of which are very superior, 
he is enabled to sell at various prices from $1.00 to $3.50 
per bottle. The proprietor will, as usual, do all in his 
power to render every accommodation to the patrons 
of the house and endeavor to make their stay with him 
as comfortable as possible. 

"JOHN GADSBY. 

"Washington, 19th Sept., 1828. 

"N. B. — A stage and steamboat office is attached to 
the establishment, where passage can be taken to any 
part of the United States. 

59 



WASH I NGTO N OLD A N D N E W 

"The following persons will please publish this adver- 
tisement twice a week for three weeks and render their 
accounts to the subscriber for settlement : 

"The Boston Courier and Statesman, The Neiv York 
American and Enquirer, the Philadelphia National Gazette, 
American Sentinel, the Baltimore Gazette-Chronicle, the 
Richmond Enquirer, Norfolk Herald, Charlotte Mercury, 
Neiv Orleans Courier, Nashville Republican, Cincinnati 
National Republican, Pittsburg Mercury." 

An old Washingtonian, Major Walter Hellen. writes: 

"What a great hotel the National used to be in by- 
gone days. It was here that Henry Clay resided when 
in Washington, and it was through its lobby I saw his 
body borne by his loving friends, who came from his 
native State to attend the obsequies and act as a guard 
of honor in bearing his remains from this city to their 
last resting place in Kentucky. 

"It was at this hotel James Buchanan stopped when 
he arrived in the city just previous to his inauguration 
and before taking up his home in the White House. I 
was at the Baltimore and Ohio Station when he arrived 
in town. He was met at the train by a committee of 
abouty fifty men, who, after an exchange of greetings, 
marched in procession, with Buchanan at the head, down 
C to 4V. Street to the Avenue, thence to the hotel. A 
very short time after his inauguration a terrible epidemic 
of sickness broke out at the National, from which many 
died, causing a great sensation throughout the country, 
as it was thought by many that some enemies of Bu- 
chanan had tried to poison him." 

60 



W A S H I N G T O \ T OLD AND N E W 

It appears to be true that Mr. Buchanan had a narrow 
escape during his visit to Washington, the water of the 
National Hotel having been poisoned in an attempt to 
destroy the rats with arsenic. The vermin partook of 
it and then plunged into and died in a tank at the top of 
the house. 

Up to twenty years ago the National Hotel was the 
center of the city, whose trend to the westward has since 
been uninterrupted, without diminishing, however, the pat- 
ronage or popularity of the hotel. 

It will be quite obvious to the reader that it is impos- 
sible in a work of this scope to discuss all the features of 
Washington's marvelous growth from 1872 to this day. 
More than the usual space for description has been given 
the old National, because this, of the city's landmarks, 
seems to stand out the most conspicuously. 

Washington has changed more in the last fifty years 
than any American city, it has more than quadrupled 
its population with the best of the elements in all the 
States and Territories. 

"The development of the executive departments of 
the national Government, with the growth of the na- 
tion's business, and the great increase in the scientific 
work carried on by the nation, have drawn to Wash- 
ington many able men." * * * 

The presence of the President, the Cabinet, the Su- 
preme Court, Congress, the Diplomatic Corps, the high- 
est orficers of the Army and Navy, the many eminent 
scientists and scholars, gives it a cosmopolitan char- 
acter that is most attractive, and draws visitors in in- 
creasing numbers from all over the United States and 
Canada and many other countries. The healthful cli- 
mate, which is also agreeable during the greater part of 

62 



W A SHIN G T O X 



OLD A N D X E W 



the year, the beauty, comfort, and convenience of 'the 
city, the exceptional interest of its life, etc., are 
among the things which make Washington almost ideal 
as a residence city. The good government of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia with its admirable public school sys- 
tem, police and fire departments, and other municipal 
features, all free from the scandalous practices of black- 
mail and bribery, political favoritism and corruption, 
which stain so many American municipalities, may be 
mentioned as one of the reasons why most people like 
to live in Washington." 



'Before, she like some shepherdess did show, 
Who sat to bathe her by a river's side ; 
Not answering to her fame, but rude and low, 
Nor taught the beauteous arts of modern pride. 
Now, like a maiden queen, she will behold, 
From her high turrets, hourly suitors come; 
The East with incense, and the West with gold." 




CHAPTER IV 

THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT 
OF WASHINGTON, ITS PRESENT EDU- 
CATIONAL ADVANTAGES AND 
ITS GREAT POSSIBILITIES 



The Centennial celebration, in December, 1900, of the re- 
moval of the National Capital from Philadelphia to Wash- 
ington forms an appropriate landmark from which to esti- 
mate alike the present condition and prospective develop- 
ment of the Federal City. Previous to the last decade of the 
19th century, any such attempt, at least in the way of fore- 
cast, would have been misleading if not absolutely fallacious. 
Up to the close of the Civil War, the location of the Na- 
tional Capital was, as has been set forth in previous chap- 
ters, always in doubt ; but even with its permanent existence 
secured by the consecration of war, and the construction of 
the great railway systems, the political and material status 
of the city was altogether uncertain. 



65 



WASHINGTO N OLD A X D X E W 

Twice within the period of ten years Congress had changed 
the form of government in the District. Under the liberal- 
izing influence of the Civil War, the citizens of Washing- 
ton had been granted the privileges of territorial govern- 
ment. Under the capable leadership of Alexander R. Shep- 
herd they had paved their streets, drained the swamps with 
which the scattered portions of the city were interspersed, 
and established a fair system of sewage and water supply. 
Reaction, however, had set in against this progressive pol- 
icy. Shepherd was disavowed, the people were deprived of 
representation and a form of government by commission 
was established. But neither the disfavor of Congress nor 
the discouraging attitude of the residents of the District 
could restore the crudity or sluggish condition of ante- 
bellum times. Washington, moreover, had by this time 
been completely adopted by the nation, and was, moreover, 
caught up in a great wave of national prosperity which placed 
it upon a ground of vantage from which it could never be 
moved. The stimulating character of the war tariff and the 
vast consumption of wealth of which our citizens were the 
chief producers, had developed new industries in the country 
and vastly extended the old. These great instrumentalities 
of production — northern capital and northern experience — 
had extended to the great coal and iron fields, the forest pre- 
serves and agricultural resources of the South. The result 
was not only a tremendous increase of wealth, but, as a con- 
sequence of the rapidity of the transformation, this wealth 
as well as the industrial and commercial interests of the 
country which had produced it, were concentrated in the 
hands of a few individuals and corporations. The great 
mass of the population had little or no share in the swollen 
fortunes which seemed to spring up automatically: and, feel- 
ing themselves defrauded of their just part in the general 

66 



W A S H I N G T O N OLD A X D N E W 

prosperity, they sought under party leadership to attack the 
strongholds of capital and privilege, which, by reason of the 
centralization incidental to the war, were ranged under the 
protection of the United States Government. The great 
corporate interests of the country instinctively realized that 
in order to protect present gains or exploit future possibili- 
ties they must secure representation in the Congress of the 
United States. So alert were they in adjusting themselves 
to existing conditions, that for the next twenty years the 
Senate was not inaptly named "a rich man's club." The 
chief beneficiary from this transformation was the city 
of Washington. 

As the permanent home of a great number of wealthy 
Senators and Representatives, palatial residences and hotels 
were erected and surrounded by handsome grounds. Lav- 
ish appropriations for the extending and paving of streets 
and the acquisition and planting of new parks were made 
from year to year. Undertakings for securing adequate 
water supply, drainage, sanitation, ornamentation and other 
appliances of comfort and luxury far beyond those for 
which Shepherd had been exiled were sanctioned by an 
over-generous Congress. It was at this moment that the 
more enlightened citizens of the country, aided by their rep- 
resentatives in both Jiouses of Congress, resurrected the 
long forgotten plans of L'Enfant and the ambitious dreams 
of Washington. The public had at last been educated up to 
an appreciation of their grandeur, and their approximate 
realization was a question only of time. The mistakes and 
ignorance of previous years had left widespread their un- 
sightly traces and rendered many parts of the original plans 
impossible. Nothing could restore the noble vistas which 
had been obscured, or transform the massing of public build- 
ings and monuments regardless of proportion and symme- 

67 



W A S H I N GT N OLD A N D N E W 

try. Opportunity enough, however, remained to create a 
town of surpassing beauty; and the artistic aspirations of a 
century crystallized in the centennial celebration, which wit- 
nessed the appointment of a committee of the most cele- 
brated architects and landscape gardeners of the country for 
the improvement and ornamentation of the National Capi- 
tal. Under their direction a great driveway has been con- 
structed to connect Rock Creek Park with the new Potomac 
Park reclaimed from the Potomac flats ; a similar 
plan has been devised for beautifying the Anacostia flats. 
A large tract of land stretching from the new railway sta- 
tion to the Capitol has been acquired; and an avenue of mag- 
nificent proportions extending from the west front of the 
Capitol to the Memorial Bridge and embracing on its w r ay 
the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial has 
been undertaken. 

Nor has expansion been permitted to rest with the ex- 
tension of streets, the development of parks or the improve- 
ment of the river front. With the rapid increase of popula- 
tion and the stimulation of enterprise and civic spirit, the 
constitutionality of the retrocession of the early Virginia 
grant of 1846 has been called in question ; and the completion 
of the great Memorial Bridge will doubtless mark the rise 
of a sister city, on the south side of the Potomac, not yield- 
ing in beauty to the old. 

But it is not from the material and aesthetic or even 
the political side that we can best estimate the development 
of Washington. Upon purely intellectual and scientific lines 
the activities at the National Capital have been even more 
marked and significant. Here again the original initiative 
and inspiration were imparted by George Washington, who, 
in his last will and testament, solemnly recommended to Con- 
gress the foundation of a National University, not only a 

68 




JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



W A SHIN GT X OLD A X D X E W 

center of scientific and historical research, but to be a train- 
ing school for young men in the science of government and 
the sentiment of patriotism. The sagacity of his admonition 
has been abundantly justified by all who persistently sought 
to realize it. 

The first in the field were the members of the Order of 
Jesuits, who, at the suggestion of Archbishop Carroll, of Bal- 
timore, the intimate and lifelong friend of Washington, 
attempted to fulfill, according to their point of view, the 
dying bequest of that great statesman by founding 
what has since become the Georgetown University, a 
prosperous school, with faculties of law and medicine and 
an alumni distinguished in every walk of life, among whom 
is the present Chief Justice of the United States. 

Only a few years later, inspired by a similar motive, a 
number of pious Baptist clergymen established the Colum- 
bian, now The George Washington University. Congress 
at this time manifested its approval of the undertaking by 
a valuable grant of lands. Statesmen and philanthropists. 
at home and abroad, generously responded with contribu- 
tions, John Ouincy Adams himself giving $7,000, besides the 
loan of a much larger sum. The subsequent history of the 
institution has been worthy of the distinguished auspices 
under which it was founded. It .embraces schools of law, 
medicine, engineering, pedagogy and graduate studies, with 
a faculty of more than a hundred instructors and 1,300 
students. Under conditions of great sacrifice it duplicates its 
morning lectures and recitations, in the evening for the bene- 
fit of large numbers of young men who come to Washing- 
ton from every state in the Union to secure the benefits of 
university training, while employed in the great adminis- 
trative and scientific bureaus of the United States Govern- 
ment. This institution thus carries out. even in a more lib- 



70 



W A S H I X G T N OLD AND N E IV 

eral sense, the intentions of George Washington, who hoped 
that young men thus gathered at the seat of the nation dur- 
ing the most formative period of their lives might share 
in the associations which would bind the separate states in 
a compact union and develop sentiments of patriotism and 
respect for republican institutions. 

Advancing upon similar lines of thought, the trustees of 
the University have established a School of Political Sciences 
upon the model of the French "Ecole de Sciences Politique" 
where young men may be trained for the diplomatic and 
consular service as well as for political life. This school, 
the first of its kind to be established in the country, has 
already been liberally subsidized and has earned for itself a 
most creditable record at home and abroad. Its faculty has, 
from time to time, numbered the most eminent men in the 
country, in their respective specialties. Justice Brewer, of 
the United States Supreme Court, was Professor of Inter- 
national Law until his death; Assistant Secretary Davis 
Jayne Hill, of the Department of State, taught Diplomatic 
History until he was appointed to our diplomatic service. 
Mr. James Brown Scott taught Constitutional Law in this 
school until he became Secretary of the Carnegie Peace 
Foundation; while graduates from the school occupy posi- 
tions in the American Embassies, Legations, or Consular 
Service in Europe, South America and Asia. 

Within the last decade two new university foundations, 
planned upon an even more ambitious scale, have been added 
to those already in existence, namely — the Catholic Uni- 
versity of America and the Methodist or American Uni- 
versity. The former, organized by the late Pope 
Leo, with schools of philosophy, theology, natural and social 
sciences, law jurisprudence and technology, occupies a spa- 
cious park, studded with half a score of magnificent build- 

71 



WASHINGTO N OLD A X D N E W 

ings adjoining the Soldiers' Home. Around it have sprung 
up, as if by magic, the foundations of the affiliated colleges 
of the Benedictines, the Dominicans, the Augustinians, the 
Paulists, the Holy Cross and Apostolic Missions. Not far 
distant under the same auspices and drawing its teaching- 
force from the University's staff, is Trinity College, estab- 
lished and endowed for the higher education of Catholic 
women. Together they form the culmination of the Catho- 
lic educational system in the United States, embracing 
nearly five thousand parochial schools, eight hundred col- 
leges and seminaries, and three universities. 

The Methodist denominations in the United States have 
arranged for a similar institution which shall bear the same 
relation to the Protestant sectaries that the Catholic Uni- 
versity bears to the Roman hierarchy in the United States. 
Two large structures, the college of government and the 
college of history, have already been erected and work has 
been arranged to begin with the completion of a prescribed 
endowment of $10,000,000. 

Meanwhile, private munificence has not failed to recognize 
the National Capital as a suitable place for the conduct of 
scientific research. In 1829, James Smithson. a natural son 
of the Earl of Northumberland, bequeathed his entire for- 
tune to the United States to found at Washington an insti- 
tution "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among 
men." Long before the bequest, which amounted to about 
$500,000, became available, great opposition to its acceptance 
developed. Members of Congress, especially Calhoun, con- 
tended that it was beneath the dignity of the United States 
to accept presents from individuals ; others intimated that 
the testator sought immortality at far too moderate a price. 
It was finally accepted through the influence of John Quincy 
Adams, and the income upon the original amount, together 



/I 




ANDREW CARNEGIE. 

(Photograph by courtesy of Dr. R. S. Woodward, 
President Carnegie Institution.) 



W A S H I X G T O N OLD A N D NEW 

with a generous appropriation from Congress, forms the 
basis upon which researches for the past half century have 
been conducted and their results disseminated throughout 
the world. 

President Harper is reported to have said to Mr. Rocke- 
feller, when they were casting about for a site of what after- 
wards became the University of Chicago: "Give me a mil- 
lion dollars and I will make a better university at Washing- 
ton than can be made elsewhere for ten millions" ; meaning 
that the governmental machinery, with its necessary and 
incidental accessories established at Washington, formed 
a university equipment greater than could be duplicated by 
the entire university endowment of any of the greatest uni- 
versities in the country: and that it would only be necessary 
to appoint an adequate teaching force to call it into activity. 
Mr. Rockefeller, however, could not see beyond the great 
commercial possibilities of Chicago. 

It was. therefore, left for Mr. Andrew Carnegie to ex- 
ploit President Harper's idea and furnish a cap-stone to 
Washington's existing educational system by the establish- 
ment of an institution, unique not only in the munificence of 
its endowment, but also along the peculiar line of its admin- 
istration. It is not a university, a school or a college. It con- 
ducts its work without lecture rooms, professors or libraries. 
It seeks rather to increase the efficiency of the existing in- 
stitutions throughout the country by utilizing and adding to 
their facilities; and to enable such students as find Washing- 
ton the best place to conduct their studies to enjoy the advan- 
tage of the museums, libraries, laboratories, observatory, me- 
teorological, piscicultural and forestry schools and kindred 
institutions of the several departments of the Government. 

Yet the Carnegie Institute represents only a single step 
towards the exploitation of the immense educational facili- 

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W A S H I X GT X OLD A X D X E W 

ties of Washington. How rich and varied they are may be 
seen from the consideration of a single department. For 
instance: Congress appropriated nearly $8,000,000 to the 
Department of Agriculture alone for the conduct of experi- 
mental research and the publication of its results. The De- 
partment publishes during the year more than 800 different 
reports of investigations made in the Weather Bureau, the 
Bureaus of Entomology, Chemistry, Forestry, Animal In- 
dustry and Plant Life; many million copies of which are 
printed and circulated throughout the country. More 
than a thousand scientific experts are employed in 
the departments. All of them are men of exceptional at- 
tainments and training; many of them are the highest au- 
thorities in their special subjects in this country or in the 
world. This, however, comprises the activities of only one 
of the ten great departments. 

Each of the other nine, the Post Office, Treasury, Interior, 
State, Justice, Commerce, Labor, War and Navy, with their 
records and equipment may be considered as great experi- 
mental stations where investigations peculiar to their indi- 
vidual spheres are being conducted with a degree of accuracy 
and detail, and upon a scale of magnitude unknown, because 
impossible, elsewhere. These, together with the Supreme 
Court, the Senate and House of Representatives, the great 
Embassies and Legations, as object lessons, form only a part 
of the educational assets of Washington, compared with 
which the equipment of even the greatest university seems 
sordid and inadequate. 

To coordinate and centralize their vast possibilities upon 
educational lines, presents an opportunity for constructive 
genius unrivalled in any age or country. The contemplation 
of it through the deepening perspective of centuries inspires 



W A S H I N GT O N OLD AND N E IV 



us with ever-increasing admiration for the wisdom and fore- 
sight of the Father of His Country, who, with his dying 
breath, recommended the foundation of a National Uni- 
versity at the National Capital. 



CHAPTER V 

IN- 
SIDE LIGHTS 



Washington Explains the Senate 

There were objections to a permanent President; some 
would have preferred, as a very few would still prefer, to 
have a system like that now prevailing in the Swiss Con- 
federation, and to place at the head merely the chairman of a 
committee. Again, there existed a variety of opinions as 
to a legislature of one or two Houses. It is said that when 
Jefferson returned from France he was breakfasting with 
Washington, and asked him why he agreed to a Senate. 

"Why," said Washington, "did you just now pour that 
coffee into your saucer before drinking it?" "To cool it," 
said Jefferson; "my throat is not made of brass." "Even 
so," said Washington, "we pour our legislation into the 
Senatorial saucer to cool it." — Higginson's "History of the 
United States." 

Dolly Madison and Mrs. Monroe 

The diary of John Ouincy Adams records Cabinet meet- 
ings devoted to such momentous questions as who should 
make the first call, and who should be included in the official 



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W A S H I N GT O N OLD A N D N E W 

visiting lists. Mrs. Monroe, without a Cabinet council, 
made up her mind to retrench some of these profuse civili- 
ties with which her predecessors had fatigued themselves. 
Mrs. Madison, a large, portly, kindly dame, had retired from 
office ecpially regretted by the poor of Washington and by 
its high life; but she had gained this popularity at a severe 
cost: — she had called on all conspicuous strangers. Mrs. 
Monroe intended to call on nobody. Airs. Madison had 
been always ready for visitors when at home; her successor 
proposed not to receive them except at the regular levees. 
The ex-Presidentess had presided at her husband's dinner 
parties, and had invited the wives of all the men who were 
to be guests; Mrs. Monroe stayed away from the dinner 
parties, and so the wives were left at home. Add to this 
that her health was by no means strong, and it is plain that 
there was great ground for a spasm of unpopularity- She, 
however, outlived it, reestablished social relations, gave fort- 
nightly receptions, and won much admiration, which she 
probably deserved. 

When Benton Shot Jackson 

Jackson engaged in a disgraceful street light at Nashville 
with the future Senator Benton and his brother, and the 
latter inflicted a terrible wound in Jackson's arm with a 
pistol shot. He was still in bed when the Tennesseans were 
aiming to avenge Fort Minis. A friend called on Jackson 
and expressed his deep regret that the Commander of the 
Militia was not in condition to lead the enemy against the 
Creeks. Jackson's eyes flashed instantly, and he answered, 
"The h — — 1 be isn't," whereupon he leaped from his bed 
and an hour later he was astride his horse at the head of his 
army. — Barton's "Life of Jackson." 

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W A SH IN GT N O L D A N P N E W 

The Origin of "Old Hickory " 

In the earl}- part of the war Jackson raised two thousand 
troops and was sent down the Mississippi as far as Natchez. 
But as no enemy appeared, he was ordered, in the spring of 
1813, to disband the army. Jackson was very indignant 
at this order. Tt was cruel and outrageous, he said, to lead 
men five hundred miles from home and turn them out with- 
out money or food. He chose to disobey the order; he 
marched the men back to Tennessee, at his own expense. 
But the Government afterward assumed the expense. The 
General had three good horses ; but these he gave to the 
sick, while he walked with the rest. While tramping along, 
some one said, "The General is tough," and another added, 
"As tough as hickory." From this he soon came to be called 
"Old Hickory," and the name clung to him through life.— 
Elson's '"History of the United States." 

Jackson as a Duellist 

Jackson's wonderful nerve and physical courage were 
never shown to greater advantage than in his duel with 
Charles Dickinson in 1806. Dickinson was one of the rich- 
est men, and certainly the best marksmen, in Tennessee. He 
and Jackson had long been enemies, and he frequently tried 
to provoke Jackson to a duel with the intent to kill him. 
At last he succeeded by reflecting on the character of Jack- 
son's wife, and the challenge came. The two parties rode 
into Kentucky, and at daybreak, on May 30, the duel was 
fought. Jackson was an excellent shot, but he did not com- 
pare with Dickinson, and every one expected that he would 
be killed. At the word "fire," Dickinson fired instantly, and 
a puff of dust was seen at Jackson's breast; but he stood 
like a statue, with clenched teeth. Dickinson stepped back 

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W ASHIN GTO N OLD AND N E IV 

and cried, "My God, have I missed him?" General Over- 
ton, Jackson's second, drew his pistol and ordered Dickinson 
to stand still. Jackson deliberately fired and shot Dickin- 
son through the body. As they went to the inn it was noticed 
that Jackson's boots were full of blood. "General, you are 
hit," cried Overton. "Oh, I believe he has pinked me a 
little," said Jackson; "but don't mention it over there," 
pointing to the home where Dickinson lay dying. 

It was found that Dickinson's aim had been perfect, but 
that his bullet had only broken a rib and raked the breast- 
bone. Jackson, asked how he could stand motionless with 
such a wound, said, "I should have hit him if he had shot 
me through the brain." — Parton's "Life of Jackson." 

Couldn't Fool Jackson 

"Do you think," said Jackson, in 1821, "that I am such a 
damned fool as to think myself fit for the Presidency? No, 
sir; I know what I am good for. I can command a body 
of men in a rough way, but I am not fit to be President." — 
Parton's "Life of Jackson." 

Jackson and the Supreme Court 

When President, he (Jackson) refused to be bound by the 
Supreme Court, on the ground that he would sustain the 
Constitution as he understood it. and not as it was interpreted 
by others. For example, when Georgia had trouble with the 
Creeks, she condemned a half-breed named Tassels to be 
hanged. Tassels appealed to the Supreme Court, and the 
decision was reversed. The State then was cited on a writ 
of error. But Georgia was defiant and refused to be bound 
by the decision. Tt was now Jackson's plain duty to enforce 
the decision of the Supreme Court, but he refused to do so. 

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W ASHINGTO N OLD AND NEW 

"John Marshall has made his decision," he is reported to 
have said, "now let him enforce it" — and Tassels was 
hanged. — Elson's "History of the United States." 

How Van Buren "Played Safe" 

One day Van Buren handed an official paper that he had 
written to a clerk to be criticized, and the latter declared 
that he couldn't tell what it was about. "Very well," 
answered Van Buren, "it will answer then." A member 
of Congress, it was said, made a bet with another that if 
Van Buren were asked if the sun rose in the east or west, 
he would not give a direct answer. The question was asked 
and the answer was "My friend, east and west are altogether 
relative terms." — Elson's "History of the United States." 

Morse's Fight for the Telegraph 

Samuel F. B. Morse had labored for years on the tele- 
graph, and had almost reduced himself to penury. In 1842, 
he was granted the privilege of setting up his telegraph in 
the lower rooms of the Capitol. The experiment was suc- 
cessful, and the members of Congress could hardly believe 
their senses as Morse enabled them to converse with one 
another from the different rooms. And yet, when he asked 
an appropriation of $30,000 to establish an experimental line 
from Washington to Baltimore, there was much opposition. 
Many were the shafts of ridicule thrust at the new invention. 
One member moved that half of the appropriation be used In 
experiment in mesmerism ; another that an appropriation be 
made to construct a railroad to the moon. One prominent 
member pronounced all "magnetic telegraphs miserable chi- 
meras, fit for nothing." Another lost his seat in the House 
at the next election because he voted for the appropriation. 

83 



W A S H I N G T O N OLD AND N E W 

While the debate was in progress Morse stood leaning against 
the railing in the House in great agitation. A friend went 
to console him, and Morse, placing his hand to 
his head said: "I have an awful headache * * * 
I have spent seven years in perfecting this invention, and all 
that I had * * * If the bill fails, I am ruined * * * 
I have not money enough to pay my board bill." He was 
greatly relieved soon after by the passing of the bill. His 
fortune was made, and the name of Morse must forever be 
inseparable from the telegraph. — Sargent's "Public Men and 
Events." 

John Randolph and Henry Clay 

No man ever in public life in America had greater power 
in winning personal friends than Henry Clay. When John 
Randolph, who had been Clay's political enemy for many 
years, and with whom he had fought a duel, visited Wash- 
ington in the last year of his life, he called on Clay. Clay 
received him very kindly, and asked about his health. Ran- 
dolph replied, "I'm dying, Clay, I'm dying." "Why. then," 
asked Clay, "do you venture so far from home, why did you 
come here?" "To see you," answered Randolph, "to see 
you and have one more talk with yon." 

Clay and Van Buren "Behind the Scenes " 

On one occasion when Henry Clay was making a tour 
through the South, there was on the same train a farmer, an 
old school Democrat, who was invited to step into the next 
car and meet Clay. "No," he answered, "I would not be seen 
shaking hands with Henry Clay, the old Whig." He was 
informed that his idol, Van Buren, would never do such a 
thing. He offered to make a bet that he was right and agreed 

84 



W AS Hi N G T O N OLD AND NEW 

to let Clay himself decide the bet. They came to Clay's seat 
and stated the case. "Yes," answered Clay, "Van Buren 
is a good friend of mine and he made me a visit at my home 
in Lexington. Setting aside his bad politics, he is an agree- 
able gentleman and a right clever little fellow." The man 
paid his bet and went away muttering that if this is the way 
the great men acted they might fight their own battles there- 
after; he didn't believe they were in earnest anyhow, only 
pretended to be so far as to set others by the ears. — Sar- 
gent's "Public Men and Events." 

Henry Clay's Ready Wit 

Clay was a man of ready wit, and he often astonished 
his friends by his answers. The following is a sample : 
One day, while at a Philadelphia hotel, he was called on by 
John W. Forney, editor of the Press, in company with For- 
rest, the actor. It was just after the great debates in the 
Senate on the Omnibus Bill, and these debates soon became 
the topic of conversation, especially the opposition Clay 
had encountered from Senator Soule, of Louisiana. Where- 
upon Clay exclaimed, "Soule is an orator, he is nothing but 
an actor, a mere actor." No sooner had he said this than he 
realized the presence of Forrest, the actor, and, turning to 
him, added, "I mean my dear sir, a French actor, a mere 
French actor." — Forney's "Anecdotes of Men." 

The Pompous Lewis Cass 

One of the leading hotels in Washington at this period 
(in the forties) was Guy's Hotel, and here many of the 
leading Government officials, including General Cass, stayed 
while at the Capital. It happened that General Cass and 
Mr. Guy, the hotelkeeper, both large, corpulent men, looked 

85 



W AS HI N G T N OLD AND NEW 

very much alike, and each was often mistaken for the other. 
One day a western man came to the hotel and met General 
Cass on the porch and, taking him for Guy, slapped him on 
the shoulder and began. "Here I am again, old fellow; last 
time I hung up my hat in your shanty, they put me on the 
fourth floor. Want a better room this time. How about it, old 
man?" Cass braced himself up with great dignity and 
answered: "Sir, you've committed a blunder. I'm General 
Cass, of Michigan," turned about, and walked off. The man 
stood and looked after him, dazed at his mistake. Presently 
Cass walked around that way again and the man again took 
him for Guy and exclaimed : "Here you are at last; I've just 
made a devil of a blunder. I met old Cass and took him 
for you, and I'm afraid the old Michigander has gone off 
mad." Just then Guy appeared on the scene. 

vVhen Lincoln Came as President 

Lincoln's journey to the Capital was roundabout. He 
passed through most of the large northern cities, and in his 
brief addresses he seemed to treat the grave state of the 
country too lightly, declaring that there was no need of fear 
that there would be any bloodshed. When in Philadelphia 
on February 22d, he received letters from Seward and Gen- 
eral Scott advising that his published programme be 
changed, as there were serious threats of assassinating him 
when he passed through Baltimore. To this he refused to 
agree. "I cannot consent to it," said he, "what would the 
Nation think of its President stealing into the Capital like 
a thief in the night?" He went to Harrisburg that morn- 
ing and there it was determined by his friends that it was 
needless to endanger his life, and that he should go to Wash- 
ington incognito during the coming night. Lincoln yielded, 

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



WASHINGTON OLD AND NEW 

but he ever afterward regretted having done so. Colonel 
Scott, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, took entire 
charge of the project. He cut all the telegraph wires lead- 
ing out of Harrisburg and sent Lincoln with a single com- 
panion, Colonel Lainon, to Philadelphia to catch the night 
train to Washington. Everything went smoothly, and after 
the friends of Lincoln had spent a sleepless night at Har- 
risburg, the wires being repaired about daybreak, they re- 
ceived the cipher telegram previously agreed on, "Plums 
delivered, nuts safely," and Colonel Scott threw his hat into 
the air and shouted, "Lincoln, in Washington." — See Mc- 
Clure's "Lincoln and Men of War Times." 




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